If Bloomberg wins, he'll be facing something new: a fierce watchdog
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg's third term, if he wins one, will be different from his first two in one respect: He'll have a public advocate looking over his shoulder—if not poking him in the chest.
After eight years in which benign Betsy Gotbaum quietly occupied the position, it will be filled by someone far more bellicose. The four major contenders in September's Democratic primary, which will essentially determine who claims the seat in January, all promise to thrust the job back into the spotlight: Councilman Eric Gioia, who convenes press conferences almost every week; civil rights attorney Norman Siegel, who has made a career of challenging authority; Councilman Bill de Blasio, who led the fight against the mayor's extension of term limits last year; and Mark Green, Ms. Gotbaum's predecessor, whose running feud with Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the 1990s nearly propelled him into City Hall in 2001.
“Each one of the guys running is not afraid to fight the next mayor, particularly if it's Mike Bloomberg,” says state Sen. Eric Adams, a Brooklyn Democrat supporting Mr. Siegel. “You're going to have a totally different public advocate. On every issue that people think is wrong, these guys are going to be on top of you.”
Mr. Adams believes the absence of an active advocate helps to explain Mr. Bloomberg's popularity. “The reason the approval ratings are so great is because he's been free from really getting hammered,” the senator says.
Mr. Bloomberg has no shortage of vulnerabilities that a bomb-throwing public advocate could exploit. The city budget has grown twice as fast as inflation. Developers and residents alike despise his Department of Buildings. Drivers mow down pedestrians and cyclists and don't get tickets. Minorities are disproportionately stopped and frisked.
The next advocate can tap into any number of aggrieved constituencies. Of the four Democrats running, only Mr. Siegel does not aspire to run for mayor, but he has fought the administration on civil rights issues, including the arrest of Republican Convention protesters in 2004. Mr. Green introduced Sunday-morning press conferences and soaked up airtime even when he held the obscure post of consumer affairs commissioner in the Dinkins administration.
Mr. Gioia is known for excoriating Con Edison every time it suffers an outage, seeks a rate increase or accidentally electrocutes someone's pet. Mr. de Blasio picks his battles, but can manipulate the media as well as anyone when the opportunity presents itself, as it did with term limits. (Democrat Imtiaz Syed and Republican Alex Zablocki are also running.)
No friends here
“Most of the people in the race are not close friends of the mayor,” says George Arzt, the communications maven who is advising Mr. de Blasio. “This will be a watchdog office, with a very large bully pulpit. The mayor will have a very difficult time trying to evade the public advocate no matter who is elected.”
The contrast to Ms. Gotbaum will be stark. Ms. Gotbaum, who is not seeking re-election, has defended her low profile by saying, “I'm not a screamer and a yeller.” A WNYC reporter randomly asked 15 New Yorkers to name the incumbent; the closest anyone got was a man who said, “Something in her name is an R.” But when The New York Times trailed Mr. Green at a campaign stop, a woman smiled and blurted out, “It's the real Mark Green! We need you!”
While Mr. Green is leading by double digits in the polls and boasts the best name recognition in the race, he has raised only $500,000 and attracted little political or institutional support. That opens the door for Mr. de Blasio, who is second in the polls, has raised $1.4 million and is getting campaign support from organized labor and the Working Families Party.
Bases of support
Mr. Gioia has been campaigning the longest and has raised the most money, $2 million. At 36, he's the youngest of the contenders and is last in the polls, but has just launched television ads that could win him a chunk of the large undecided vote. Mr. Siegel has raised less than $300,000 but has a dedicated following of liberals who are more likely than the other candidates' supporters to get to the polls on Sept. 15—and again for an expected runoff election Sept. 29, if he finishes first or second.
Turnout is expected to be low, but the stakes are high. Mr. Gioia and Mr. de Blasio forsook re-election bids and will be out of a job if they lose. For Mr. Green, who followed his 2001 loss to Mr. Bloomberg with a failed bid for state attorney general in 2006, defeat would be a humbling end to a once-ascendant political career.
Moreover, the office itself, created in 1989 to replace the position of City Council president, is in jeopardy. The public advocate still becomes mayor in case of a vacancy but only for 60 days, thanks to a reduction orchestrated by Mr. Giuliani. The council and mayor slashed the office's budget in June by 40%, to a mere $1.8 million, and Ms. Gotbaum's disappearing act has reignited calls to eliminate it. Councilman Simcha Felder has written a bill to do so and thinks it could pass.
“Ms. Gotbaum has demonstrated that the position isn't needed,” says Bruce Berg, a political science professor at Fordham University. “There are limited resources and no formal legislative or executive role. The public advocate has very limited authority to do anything.”
But many elected Democrats want the advocate to provide a check on the mayor. “If Michael Bloomberg succeeds in capturing a third term at City Hall,” says Brooklyn Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, “it will be extremely important that the next public advocate vigorously stand up for democratic principles of governance and combat the mayor's proclivity for dictatorial public policy.”
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